


A Daughter’s Blessing

by Fledgling



Category: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six (Video Games)
Genre: Family Blessing, M/M, discussion of marriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-10-23
Packaged: 2020-12-31 18:35:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21150326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fledgling/pseuds/Fledgling
Summary: Mute has something he wants to ask Smoke about. But he needs to ask Charlie about it first.





	A Daughter’s Blessing

**Author's Note:**

> A huuuge thank you to Kiru for 1) being an amazing writer in general and 2) letting me borrow Charlie for this fic (Charlie being Smoke’s daughter). You can find her [here](https://kiruuuuu.tumblr.com/)

“So, not that I’m complaining,” Charlie said, taking the plastic cup of ice cream from the vendor, “but what are we doing?”

“What, a guy can’t take his boyfriend’s daughter out for ice cream?”

Charlie shrugged, taking a bite of her ice cream as Mark led them through the park.

“They can. Though usually the boyfriend in question is with them.”

Mark hummed, taking a seat on a bench.

“He was busy.”

Charlie gave him an unimpressed look, flopping onto the bench next to him.

“My dad is never busy. He’s _especially_ never too busy for food.”

Mark chuckled, taking a bite of his own ice cream. It was the truth, certainly: James was a fiend when it came to food, as long as it wasn’t spicy. Mark and Charlie both liked to tease him regularly about it, ordering the spiciest food they could just to watch him cringe (sometimes they made themselves sick in the process, but it was still worth it).

“So, what’s up?” Charlie asked, stabbing her spoon into her ice cream and fixing Mark with a curious look.

Mark sighed, looking down at his shoes. The plan had sounded good when he first thought of it but now he was oddly apprehensive, nervousness clogging his throat. He tapped his spoon restlessly against the side of his cup, unsure of what to say. Being forward had always been his preferred way of dealing with people, but this was different, wasn’t it?

“Mark? You break, or—”

“I want to ask James to marry me.”

Charlie made a surprised noise that quickly devolved into a series of coughs. Mark looked up in alarm, scooting closer and patting her on the back. Maybe having this conversation while eating wasn’t the best idea.

“Are you okay?”

Charlie nodded, the coughs slowly subsiding.

“You,” Charlie started, catching her breath, “you want to run that by me again?”

“I want to ask James to marry me.”

Charlie hummed, taking another bite of her ice cream. Mark didn’t say anything else, although the nervousness was increasing by the second, his chest tightening.

“You serious?”

Mark nodded.

“Have you talked to him about it yet?”

Mark shook his head.

“Shouldn’t you have done that first?”

Mark shrugged, struggling to sort his thoughts into a cohesive statement. Everything he had thought about saying earlier was gone now, scattered fragments fluttering through his mind.

“I wanted to make sure you were okay with it,” he said softly. “You’re—you and James are already a family; I want to be a part of it, not something that causes it to fall apart.”

Charlie nodded slowly, staring into her ice cream. Mark took a bite of his own, waiting. He hadn’t really known how this conversation would go—hoped for the best, obviously, but prepared for the worst regardless. He looked at Charlie out of the corner of his eye: she was thinking, brow creased and mouth pulled into a frown.

“You going to get his parents’ blessing, too?” she asked.

“Wasn’t planning on it.”

Charlie nodded again.

“If I said I wasn’t okay with it, would you ask him anyway?”

It was a good question, one Mark didn’t have the answer too, even after thinking on it for the past couple of weeks. He liked Charlie: she was incredibly smart and sarcastic, and fiercely protective over James. They were a lot alike, really, though Charlie seemed to have a better sense of decency then her father. But at the same time, he loved James, wanted to spend every moment of the rest of his life with him (a revelation that had terrified him, at first).

“I don’t know,” he finally said.

“Well at least you’re honest,” Charlie sighed, scraping the last bit of ice cream from her cup.

They fell into silence once more, each with their own thoughts. Mark forced himself to focus on eating, one cold bite at a time, in an attempt to not let his nervousness show. It worked for the most part, though he couldn’t stop his leg from bouncing.

“Well,” Charlie started, “I already refer to you as my second dad anyway. Might as well just make it official, I guess.”

Mark stared at her, eyes wide. She was trying very hard to appear nonchalant, but the rapid drumming of her fingers on the side of her cup made it obvious she was as antsy as Mark.

“You sure?”

Charlie took a deep breath and nodded.

“Honestly, I never really thought of it being anyone other than just me and Dad,” she said softly. “It just—never crossed my mind.”

She grinned, turning and punching Mark playfully in the arm.

“And then you come along and just throw that plan right out the damn window! God, do you know how long I had to listen to Dad go on and on about how wonderful you were before he finally asked you out? He never could shut up about you; he still can’t.”

Mark laughed as the rain of blows continued. He threw his arm around her shoulders, pulling her against his side in a hug.

“He wasn’t very subtle about it to me, either.”

Charlie snorted, shaking her head.

“Have you bought the ring yet?” she asked.

“Not yet, though I’ve got a few picked out. Thought I’d get your opinion on them before I made my final choice.”

Charlie pulled out of the hug, staring at Mark with an expression he couldn’t decipher right away.

“You really are serious about this, aren’t you? About wanting the three of us to be a family.”

“I wouldn't be here if I wasn’t.”

Charlie kept staring at him, eventually nodding, her expression morphing into her typical mischievous grin.

“Well, come on then,” she said, standing. “Let’s see these rings you picked out.”

Mark grinned, finishing the last of his ice cream and standing with her.

“I think you’ll approve.”

“Hm, we’ll see. Also, I reserve the right to be the flower girl at the wedding.”

“I wouldn’t have anyone else.”


End file.
